After another wild win last night, the Nats are back at U.S. Cellular Field today.

CHICAGO — It's been a whirlwind 48 hours in NatsTown, and it's not about to start slowing down now. Davey Johnson will be formally named as the Nationals' new manager sometime today, but he won't actually manage yet. He's expected to be at U.S. Cellular Field for the rest of the weekend to observe his new club, then take over Monday night in Anaheim.

So John McLaren is once again at the helm this afternoon, and he's put together a lineup that includes Ryan Zimmerman as DH, Jerry Hairston at third base and Brian Bixler (one of last night's heroes) in left field. Tom Gorzelanny gets the start against fellow lefty John Danks.

Remember, today's game is on Fox, so no MASN coverage before, during or after the game. Check back here for all of your updates, and check out CSN later for video…

Well, McLaren definitely follows Riggleman's insistence on R/L matchups. But Hairston's been hot and Bixler had his career game last night, so this makes sense to me. My only question is why not put Bixler at the hot corner and Hairston in LF? Aren't those their more natural positions? Or better yet keep Zimmerman at 3rd and let Bixler DH. Seems kind of weird to take your gold glove 3rd baseman out of the game.

Might be resting Zimmerman. He has not exactly looked gold glove since return, has he? I am just guessing.Bixler is rewarded rightfully. We won last night, thanks to him. Hoping Pudge can get a better game out of Gorzo and win us some more ballgames.

Nobody will be pushing Davey around. That might have made it a hard sell… He's prolly got 2+ years guaranteed-and not cheap. Rizzo may have swallowed some ego, to make this happen, as well… Just guessing… I don't know doody.

Maybe not an easy sell, but ultimately the Lerners got on board and that's what counts.I'm not crazy about the Fox broadcast booth. Tim McCarver annoys me for some reason.Wish MASN would at least do a post-game show.Come on Nats, another sweep perhaps? I think so :)Go Nats!

Another thing: as long as the team doesn't fall into absolute disaster and chaos, he's more or less untouchable, due to the fallout from recent events. Yep, as long as he's winning, I figger Davey's more or less the Boss

Could have made a roster move seeing as Storen will miss a game or two and Stairs is not even sniffing the field in AL parks….Wake Up Rizzo….stop patting yourself on the back for braking a marginal manager….this team needs a pitcher now.

Can we get our 9 runs in the first inning? A blowout would be nice and relaxing. RZimm not up to par, a rest from fielding is a good idea, and letting him DH should help him get his hitting eye back. Bixler deserves to start, clearly. The man is pure hustle. Guess you can't have two people at 3B (Hairston and Bixler). Maybe they flipped a coin. This is only Gorzy's 2nd start after coming off the DL, so I assume McCatty will not let him be overworked. Temp is 77 in Chi right not, so not intolerably hot or cool. Nice day for a ballgame. GO NATS!

Fl. gets the Fox Mets game!!!!Not even carried on Extra InningsOK Bud you get some more of my money.I am not missing this game after last night.Ozzie is going to have to do something to out manage McLearn. It ought to be good.

Stairs not dh-ing again? I like this new regime! I agree that RZ needs a breather – he had major abdominal surgery not that long ago. Did Matheus pitch at all last night? Seems like HRod and Burnett can go if they need to.It would be so nice to have a calm win tonight. Wish we had pre and post-game, though. I really hate Fox. GYFNG!

As we assiduously avoid chores before the game…I'm thrilled about the Nats' haul in the draft, but here's a good reminder that we should be wary of superlatives. Check out the Expos' 2000 draft:3rd round Grady Sizemore4th round Some guy named Cliff6th round Shawn Hill7th round Wes Littleton (reliever for Texas, M's)22nd round Jason Bay45th round Jeff Karstens (Pirates pitcher)Not to reopen the Omar gnashing, but my goodness.

Hey Insiders, looking for some advice: Need a recommendation for a baseball book to share with my book club – all non baseball fans. Not stategy or history, but more like baseball as a microcosm of life. Any ideas?GYFNG!

WhyNat:Back in 1997 Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote "Wait Till Next Year," a lovely memoir of growing up as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan.It's a breezy 257 pages and it's as much an evocation of 1950s Brooklyn and of the game's inheritance — passed here from father to daughter — as it is the story of Jackie, Pee Wee, Gil and the Duke.She recalls how fans' loyalties were sharply divided among the Dodgers, Giants and Yanks and "corner stores were the scenes of fierce and affectionate rivalries."I guarantee your group would enjoy it.

WhyNat- Good question.I read "Shoeless Joe" (the movie Field of Dreams is based on it) in 8th grade in four days :)Just an incredible fictional novel. I highly recommend it.Shoeless Joe is a book that would be a hit for your book club

Drew Storen's grandmother passed away yesterday. I am assuming he knew before he pitched last night, and it could be his concentration wasn't 100%, and the 3 run homer was a result. Who am I to guess.However, I know he will not be with the team tomorrow. Seems that I would go ahead and place him on bereavement list till tomorrow, and bring up someone for two days in the bullpen. Just a thought.Also read Ryan is not playing third today as McClaren said he has been working real hard on his throws after the operation, and could use the day off in the field. Needless to say a win today and we win another series.

The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America. Joe Posnanski (sportswriter for SI) spent a year on the road with Buck O'Neil, a Negro league player and manager. They meet fans and go old stomping grounds, etc. Slice of life.

condolences to Drew Storen for his loss. Sorry to hear that.On another note, I hope you guys have been voting Nationals in All Star ballots. I am using all the IDs available to me through my university account. I must have used at least 10 IDs by now to maximum. Oh and please include Ichiro in your votes if you can. I do not want to see his streak end at 10 ASG starts.

Whynat said…Hey Insiders, looking for some advice: Need a recommendation for a baseball book to share with my book club – all non baseball fans. Not stategy or history, but more like baseball as a microcosm of life. Any ideas?GYFNG!June 25, 2011 3:03 PM——————————————————-"Praying For Gil Hodges" by Tom Oliphant is "A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers." It's a terrific read about life in the 1950's, and the central role that the Dodgers played in the lives of the author's family and of countless others.

While the Goodwin book is my pick for the general audience, here are some other enjoyable reads for the baseball diehards.Posnanski, mentioned by Wally above, wrote a delightful book on the great 1975 Reds, entitled "The Machine."It's filled with wonderful stories. Joe Morgan tells of how how he once booted a ball and dreaded the reaction by the team's three other greats. He walked into a silent locker room — and found his glove in a trash can.Another good read is "The Long Ball" Tom Adelman's take on baseball's 1975 season, culminating in the memorable Sox-Reds Series.Aside from the many fine biographies, there's "Only the Ball Was White," Robert Peterson's excellent study of Negro League baseball.

Don't know if I can watch this. Gorzelanny serving up gopher balls and this dreadful broadcast team. They are unaware that zim had surgery, they have obviously not looked at werth's stats for the year. Sean Casey can barely speak the english language. sheeesh.

Last night Sox crew made it worth paying for the Nats radio crew today. They were just horrible and I knew I could not take three games of "the Hawk".Werth and Zim have picked it up right where they left off last night. You would think our vets could participate in this effort. If Zim is still hurting he needs to get well before playing.

Back on the book front, can't believe no one has mentioned my favorite – Men at Work by George Will. It's a little more "inside baseball" (a phrase that has almost lost its meaning after being highjacked by politicos in DC) but it has a bunch of great anecdotes and will give those who read it a great appreciation of the game.

Looked Like Bernadena was safe. Oh well. 5 straight hits for him now.How on earth did Bruney get through an inning and we didn't score. That never happened an inning he pitched for us. Concentrate guys.

Not to belabor the point, but this has to be the worst broadcast of a professional sporting event I've ever seen. The announcers are talking about everything BUT the game. Is someone even calling the play-by-play? But what's most annoying is whomever is directing this thing must have ADD. Weird sudden cuts into the dugout, almost no replays, they keep putting up the divisional standings for seemingly no reason at all.Yikes.

Is it my imagination or has rizzo turned into an egomaniac this week? He was not even watching his team's pretty tame -looking playing and the caught stealing. Time for the Nats to stop waiting until the ninth inning. They are looking a little off today. The crazy week catching up with them? Gorzo – just keep it close.

The last few weeks, Desi has looked as bad at the plate as I have ever seen him. I know he had the 10 game or so hitting streak, but he just looks bad, to my eye. His pitch selection is worse than usual, he looks very stiff and he doesn't seem balanced in his swing.I don't think he is this bad, and will get straightened out somehow. Maybe he'll by Davey's special project.

Not sure exactly what Rizzo's supposed to say when the TV networks pull him in to talk about the status of the team. I'm tired of hearing his voice, too, but he seems to be saying the appropriate things.There might have been a bit more PBP in the top of the 3rd if Rizzo had commented on that missed CS call at second, but that's not what he was there to do.Grandstander, I quite agree about whoever is calling the camera shots in the truck. Some truly bizarre choices are being made.

I understand Unkyd, it hurts bitting the tongue.All these apperances drives home the need for a president of operations. Much as I disliked Stan, things would not have reached this point. He would have overseen a conversation and if Riggleman still wanted to quit, he would have had it done in a professional maner with minimum drama, and probably during winter meetings or spring training when it started.

so far this is looking more like the pre-winning Nats. Making Bruney look like Cy Bruney. They should have lit him up like a Christmas tree. Come on boys concentrate. You just made a marginal picture look like a great one.

whynat – praying for duke snider – tom oliphant – his reminiscence of living in bklyn when they won the series. lots about money, race, etc in that time.crazy 08 ( think ) about the 1908 NL pennant race. lots about how crazy the game was. nothing real technical.take me out – richard greenberg (play) – about a baseball player who comes out of the closet. social commentary ensues.

I loved "Men at Work." Maybe worth a look, especially in light of last night's shocking overturn of a solid call, not to mention today's erroneous caught stealing, is the book, "As They See 'em." it's about how guys come up as umpires. Some good parallels drawn to Real Life, too. Will order Praying for Gil Hodges now…

jane b – gil or duke? one or the other. but i know it was oliphant.i was 2 in bklyn for that series, but i grew up with so many dodger names and stories from my parents, i lose track. waddu eye no.met a dodgers fan from that time and mentioned to him that my uncle never forgave omalley. that if they ever ran into each other in heaven, uncle jerry would let him have it.fan: won't happen – o'malley's not in heaven.

Whynat – I grew up going to Griffith Stadium so I had high hopes for "The Last Boy" by Jane Leavy which is a biography on Mickey Mantle. She does a nice job but it is not all baseball and she touches on Mantle's difficulties outside the lines.This broadcast team has brought me back to Dave and Charlie where I am more comfortable anyway. Like seeing Bixler starting and am fine with Zimm having a day at dh (although I heard a stat that he is 1-15 in that role). We are now in the 5th and Gorzo seems to be ok. I am going to be interested if its a save situation, seeing who McLaren goes with.Go Nats!!

I am down in the Shenandoah Valley and the Fox station out of Roanoke, Virginia is carrying the Indians-Giants game. Been nice to have it on with the sound down. It's a little surprising as the sports guys on the Roanoke/Lynchburg stations do treat the Nats as the "local" team.

On a positive note, Gorzo is looking pretty good working under pressure. 6 innings of 1 run ball, can't ask for much more than that from him. Lots of little bloopers dropping in too.Hopefully he's coming back into form, but I'd to start him at CBP with all those warning track flies.

Does anyone else feel like this game is just strange in a lot of ways? Gorzo doesn't look great but they've only scored 1, we can't hit our way out of a paper bag, the Dunn situation is just sad, the broadcasters are…. whatever, the time of game is odd, they played 5 hours last night. It's just kind of surreal.

Cy Young lives again. This is just like before they started winning. Hitters looking clueless. WHo is going to be the hitting coach under Davey. Hopefully someone who is more aggressive about teaching the strike zone than Eck is. We can't hit sliders (and we really shouldn't bother swinging at them) as most of the times they are not strikes. .

I went away for about 4 innings to do some other stuff. I have to say, I'm delighted to see it still at 1-0.The Fox/Chicago team of Josh and Sean are talking about which Chicago pitcher is going to get the win. The game's not over yet, boys.They must not've heard very much about recent Nationals Games.

Top of the order due up in the 9th. It's over. I think every rally for the last 2 weeks has started midway though the order.What are Werth's numbers like for the month of June? He seems to have been pretty non-existent at the plate in my memory of the last couple weeks.

Second day in a row the bullpen is ineefective as a whole. Going into the weekend I think the ERA of the starters was much higher than the relievers. I plan on doing the figures after the game.What is with our hitters do we all need eye exams. Swings at bad pitches or pitches that are over the plate but not near the bat. (this was definitely like pre streaking batting.)

My favorite goof was when Lewin quoted Pudge as saying that in his first major league game he threw out Alex Rios.Uh, make that Alex Cora.As for the game — OK, stuff happens and we've had our share of good fortune. But I don't understand several of Mac's choices today.1. Danks is out of the game after 26 pitches and is replaced by Bruney. Why don't you get Nix in the game immediately?2. You need to manufacture a run. Adam Dunn is a weak fielder. Why aren't you bunting on him again and again and again and again?I would do it until he proves he can make the play.

Whaddya eye…. Just bought "praying for Gil Hodges" for the kindle app. I thought it was odd that they would be praying for some other player. I'm looking forward to reading it.Oh well. Wait till tomorrow. Isn't that much nicer than, " wait'll next year"?Sleep well boys. Then GYFNG.

In case anyone cares,I hate the word certification thing. The letters are hare to read on my computer, and I miss it half the time Just looked it up. Going into today only 2 teams San Diego and the nats have more strike outs than hits. Sand Diego 630 K and 604 Hm and Nats 605 K and 603 Hits. No one else is real close. If I am Johnson that is the first thing I approach and fix.

Random grab bag catch-up post time:Condolences to the Storen family.Shutouts are frustrating. Get Good Livo tomorrow and maybe we can take the series. Gorzo pitched much better than I anticipated. Bruney, too. :-(I didn't mind the Fox team that much, but I missed Bob and FP. I'd rather have listened to these guys than McCarver and Buck, who wouldn't have been any more knowledgeable about the team if past broadcasts are any indicator. I actually kind of like Casey (have seen him on MLB Network quite a bit). He is a bit of a chatterbox, but then again, they didn't call him The Mayor for nothing. I did feel that the buzz around the team was more positive than on previous national broadcasts, and I think that's a plus. I was glad Rizzo opted not to indulge in a he said/he said session, which is what the Fox team seemed to want.I second Wally on the Posnanski book, which I'd almost mentioned earlier.I *did* feel sorry for Dunn. Hope that his bat warms up *after* the series ends.Is it just me, or does Lillbridge look like a daggone Hobbit?

Tough loss today but we can't win em all boys. Hopefully, we will see good Livo tommorow(whoever is behind the plate needs to a have a rather big strike zone). Gonna watch the O's game and hopefuly they can beat the Reds. GYFNG

Flat game today – I guess things were bound to catch up with them. I hope tomorrow is a better game – no offense today. It's the last game I will see in a few days due to the 10 pm starts. Storen is having a tough time these last few days.Multiple stresses. Sometimes we forget just how young some of these guys are. Most of the bullpen should be available again tomorrow – but I hope they are not needed and Livo rights the ship.

Me, too, on the 10 p.m. starts.Re. the strike zone, at one point after what seemed like a pretty good pitch, I asked rhetorically "What was wrong with that?" My husband quickly replied, "It was thrown by a Nats pitcher." Heh.At least the Fox guys knew about Beast Mode. 😉

Boy, our hitting has just been pitiful. Just frickin horrendous! Is Werth ok? There is something the matter with him. He hits like he can't see. He has no clue where that little white thing is. Takes pitches down the middle and then hacking blindly at anything close to the plate. Personally, I think he should give some of his paychecks back. He has been clueless.

I think we should nominate Adam Dunn and Jayson Werth for the All Star Game Home Run Derby. Maybe the practice swings will help them both get it together.Once again, on the broadcast, rizzo talked about how valuable Werth is to the club — I think he will be in the future, but it's hard to see it right now. His swing looks very awkward.

Big Cat- Pitiful? Today yes. Not so much the previous 14 games (12-2 record, scoring 6+ runs 6 times).Lets not get carried away after they actually lose a game. If they play .500 baseball the rest of the season, most people's pre-season predictions would be surpassed.In the mean time Go Nats!!

@ Cwj I acgree with Big Cat. Sure they have hit better, but in this 12 game win streak, they have an number of 2 run wins and 1 run win.They are winning despite over poor hitting. Still 15th in the league in hitting. They need learn to swing at strikes, and not at balls. I said it earlier they now have 605 hits and 619 Ks. Only one other team has more Ks than H. That is poor eyesight.

Two other classics that any baseball fan would enjoy are "The Glory of Their Times" by Lawrence S. Ritter and "The Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn.Ritter's book was first published in 1966. He took a reel-to-reel tape machine and recorded indelible stories from old-time ballplayers. Each chapter is a spoken take-you-there narrative across the mists of time, told by ballplayers such as Rube Marquard, "Wahoo" Sam Crawford and Smokey Joe Wood.The title comes from Ecclesiastes: "All these were honored in their generation and were the glory of their times."Kahn's "The Boys of Summer", published in 1972, is the story of those halcyon days when he was a reporter covering Brooklyn's beloved Bums. Kahn hooks you with his very first line:"At a point in life when one is through with boyhood, but has not yet discovered how to be a man, it was my fortune to travel with the most marvelously appealing of teams."

This doesn't necessarily fit the book club criteria but on the fan reading list front, I'll repeat my post from last spring:In other news, I just finished reading "Spring Training," by William Zinsser. The book features a behind-the-scenes look at Spring Training with the 1988 Pirates of GM Syd Thrift and skipper Jim Leyland. Very interesting read about one team's approach to teaching fundamentals in Spring Training. I really enjoyed the book, and it whetted my appetite for my first ever visit to Viera.